Can friends buy a house together in Australia?

Yes. Friends typically hold the property as tenants in common (so shares can be unequal and each passes by will), take a joint loan or a property share loan structure, and record the deal in a co-ownership agreement. There is no requirement that co-buyers be couples or family.

Can friends use the First Home Guarantee together?

Yes - the Home Guarantee Scheme was expanded to allow joint applications from friends, siblings and other pairs, letting eligible first home buyers purchase with as little as a 5% deposit without lenders mortgage insurance. Both applicants generally need to be eligible first home buyers living in the property; confirm current settings with Housing Australia.

Does buying with a friend affect future borrowing?

Usually yes. Most lenders assess each co-owner as liable for the entire joint debt while crediting only their share of any rent, which can reduce what you can borrow for your next property. Some structures (property share loans) and some lenders treat this more favourably - ask before you commit.

What happens if one friend wants to sell?

Whatever your agreement says - typically the other co-owner gets a right of first refusal to buy the share at an independently assessed value, and if they pass, the property is sold. Without an agreement, a forced statutory sale through the courts is the fallback, which is slower and more expensive for everyone.

Australia · 8 min read · Laddered Editorial · 22 Jul 2026

Buying a House With a Friend in Australia: How It Works in 2026

Two incomes, two deposits, and a government guarantee that now covers friends buying together. What's changed, what the banks think, and the five conversations to have before you look at a single listing.

friends
finance
australia
co-ownership

This article is general information only and is not legal, financial, tax, or property advice. Consider advice from a qualified professional for your circumstances.

The maths that's pulling friends onto one title

The case for buying with a friend is not complicated: two deposits get you into the market years earlier than one, two incomes borrow more than one, and rent you were paying separately becomes a mortgage you're paying into something you own. With capital-city prices where they are, "wait until I can do it alone" has quietly become a plan to wait a very long time.

What's changed recently is that the system has started to catch up with the idea. Lenders have structures for co-buyers who aren't couples, and the federal Home Guarantee Scheme — once effectively limited to couples and singles — now allows friends and siblings to apply together. Buying with a mate has moved from workaround to supported path.

What hasn't changed: the deals that go wrong still go wrong for the same reason, and it's never the paperwork the bank cares about. It's the paperwork the friends skipped.

The Home Guarantee Scheme now covers friends

The First Home Guarantee lets eligible first home buyers purchase with as little as a 5% deposit without paying lenders mortgage insurance, because Housing Australia guarantees part of the loan. Joint applications used to be restricted to couples; the scheme was expanded so that friends, siblings and other pairs buying together can apply jointly — and more recent changes have loosened the settings further.

The details that matter for a pair of friends:

Both of you generally need to be eligible first home buyers who will live in the property (it's an owner-occupier scheme, not an investor one).
Property price caps apply and differ by state and region — check the current caps for where you're buying.
It runs through participating lenders, so your broker needs to place you with one.
Scheme settings have moved several times in the last few years (income caps and place limits have been relaxed), so confirm the current rules on Housing Australia's site rather than a two-year-old blog post — including this one.

A 5% deposit each, no LMI, and a friend to split the bills with is a genuinely different entry point than saving 20% alone. It's also twice the reason to get the ownership structure right, because a smaller deposit means thinner equity if someone needs out early.

How you'll actually hold the house

Everything in our co-buying playbook applies, so here it is in short form with the deeper guides linked:

Title: friends should hold as tenants in common, not joint tenants — unequal shares can be recorded, and your share goes to your estate, not automatically to your mate.
Shares: if your deposits differ, set the percentages to match the money rather than pretending 50/50.
The loan: a standard joint loan makes each of you liable for all of it. Ask about property share structures that separate the repayments, and understand that most lenders will count the whole joint debt against you when you next borrow alone.
Borrowing power: run a combined estimate before you fall in love with a price bracket.

The five conversations to have first

Have these before the first inspection, while everything is still hypothetical and easy:

Time horizon. How long are we in for? What happens if one of us meets someone, gets a job in another city, or just wants out in year three?
Money under stress. If one of us loses income, does the other cover, and does the covering become a loan, or shift the shares?
Living arrangements. Are we both living there? What if one moves out and wants to rent their room — who approves the tenant, and who gets the rent?
The exit. How is a buyout valued and funded, how much notice, and what if the one staying can't refinance alone?
The deadlock. When we genuinely disagree — sell versus hold, renovate versus not — what breaks the tie?

The answers go into a co-ownership agreement before settlement. None of these conversations get easier with a mortgage attached.

Friendship is the asset you're actually protecting

People worry that putting the deal in writing signals distrust. It's the opposite: the written agreement is what lets you have a money disagreement without having a friendship disagreement, because the answer was decided back when nobody was angry. The co-owners who lose friendships are almost never the ones with agreements — they're the ones who were "too close to need one."

That's also the gap Laddered fills after settlement: the agreement's rules keep running day to day — expenses split by your shares automatically, decisions logged, one ledger both of you can see — so the deal you set up stays visible for the years you own together, instead of living in one person's spreadsheet and the other's vague memory.

This is general information, not financial or legal advice. Scheme eligibility, price caps and lender policy change frequently — verify current Home Guarantee Scheme settings with Housing Australia, and have a solicitor paper the title and agreement before you sign anything.